


I Need You

by multi_angxls



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24878188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multi_angxls/pseuds/multi_angxls
Summary: I wrote this after the canadian promo for 3x15 came out giving us the Melendaire Bar Scene and so I decided to pain you all with a whole lot of angst about how I would want the bar scene to go. It may or may not involve a confession or two
Relationships: Claire Browne & Neil Melendez, Claire Browne/Neil Melendez, Melendaire - Relationship
Comments: 3
Kudos: 25





	I Need You

**Author's Note:**

> So I have already posted this before. However, I accidentally deleted it and thank god they sent me a copy of my work so I was able to salvage it. Sorry for temporarily robbing the melendaire fandom of this content lmao, but enjoy!

The bar that Neil sat at was covered in something sticky as he tapped his foot impatiently. Despite a weeklong attempt to fix the favouritism complaint filed and against him and Claire, none it mattered. He had failed miserably, which was something Melendez thought merited several drinks. Lim told him to cut off all unprofessional ties with Claire, and he was pretty sure that come tomorrow she would be off of his service. The rules were set in stone now: him and Claire couldn’t do anything outside of work. So why- out of pure impulse alone- did he message her asking to meet him at this bar? Neil normally wasn’t this disregarding of hospital policies and rules, but there was just too much left unsaid between the two of them that he would beat himself up if he didn’t talk to her about it. He took another sip of his beer and looked around the bar. There was a bartender on the other side of the bar pouring drinks to a happy couple that was very much hammered. Out of options, Neil studied his drink finding it much too uncomfortable to look at anything else. Except, of course, for the woman that had just sat next to him and dropped her purse onto the bar stool next to her. The woman who shifted her jacket for a minute before settling down. The woman who Neil could see out of his peripherals looking at him. A woman with curly brown hair and a soft yet tired smile. Claire. 

“Hey.” 

He turned his head to face her. He kept a steady grip on his drink, fully aware that if he put it down he would have no idea what to do with his hands. “You came.”

“You asked me to come, so I came. Even after you told me you shouldn’t socialize with residents outside of work, which makes this all the more confusing.”

“Believe me, I’m as confused as you are about all of this.” 

“That’s doubtful.” Claire let out the tiniest laugh, but kept a gaze on Melendez. “You didn’t have to ghost me completely, you know. Giving me the silent treatment, letting Park go off on me, pushing me away. It isn’t favouritism to not let those things happen.” 

“I know, I’m sorry. I thought I was fixing the problem by being cold to you but I wasn’t. I was just making myself miserable.”

Claire let out a noise that Neil interpreted as something in between a giggle and a scoff, looking down at her toes dangling off the bar stool. “Why is this so hard for us?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean,” she said while gripping her hand against the edges of the stool and tensing up, “there was a favouritism complaint filed against us. We were separated at work, and we‘re being urged to cut off ties outside of work. It’s been laid out to us clear as day that our relationship can’t be anything that will cause you to favour me. We’re colleagues, it shouldn’t bother us. And yet here we are, failing to do any of that. So why is it so hard for us to not see each other outside of work?” She scoffed at the question, but Neil could tell that she didn’t find it the least bit ridiculous as she shifted her gaze back up towards him searching for the answer in his eyes. 

His eyes held as much- if not more- confusion as hers did however, and she gave up. Then as if watching her stand up getting ready to leave, quite possibly forever, was a wakeup call to his brain he put his drink down and grabbed Claire’s hand. She stopped dead in her tracks as his grip, soft but steady, slowly brought her back around to face him. He got up from his chair and looked at her, the beating of his heart sounding in his ears like an alarm. Claire could almost feel the intensity of his gaze in the back of her neck. He then tucked a strand of hair behind Claire’s ear. 

“It’s hard to stay away because I need you. I don’t know what we are but I know that I need you, Claire.”

“You need me?” 

“Need you.”

Claire sat back down in her chair and hesitantly, in almost a whisper, replied, “I need you too.” 

Throughout all of the chaos that had begun to back them into a corner, Neil still let a smile creep onto his face after hearing those words. It was a victory sweeter than the purest of chocolate. The words that followed, however, weren’t so sweet. 

“Which is why I should probably get going.” Claire waited in the quiet aftermath of what she had just said, noticing the tension that had set in Neil’s jaw like stone. Claire looked down at her hand, surprised to find it still intertwined with Neil’s. Slowly sliding her hand out away from his felt like the hardest thing she’d ever done. Claire knew she’d feel that hurt for a long time to come, but it was necessary. 

“Why?” He avoided looking directly at her but still waited for an answer. Claire just shook her head. 

“Because it doesn’t matter how tired we are of fighting this. We have to fight it either way.” With that she stood up and left. Melendez, his heart sunken lower than his toes, ordered another drink. He knew she was right, how there was no guarantee that they’d work out and that it would look bad. Logically, she had every reason to walk out that door. But god, it hurt like hell to see her leave. He wished that she would walk back in and change her mind, that she would run back and hold his hand again and feel that jolt of electricity run through him, or that she would turn around and say it was all a joke. Sitting there while turning his head to the door every five seconds waiting for any of those options to occur, reality finally kicked in.

None of that was going to happen.


End file.
